This article develops a model of bank runs and crises and analyses how the presence of a lender of last resort (LOLR) affects the solvency of the banking system. We obtain a one to one mapping from the depositors' equilibrium strategy to an optimal contract prevailing in the economy. The study...

In a framework closely related to Diamond and Rajan (2001) we characterize different financial systems and analyze the welfare implications of different LOLR-policies in these financial systems. We show that in a bank-dominated financial system it is less likely that a LOLR-policy that follows...

We construct a new measure of financial development, through multivariate analysis, which includes several indicators of financial size and efficiency for 134 countries. Based on this broad measure, we assess empirically the determinants of financial development focusing on two factors not yet...

The paper considers a modelin which limited liability causes an asset substitution problem for banks. The problem can at times become so severe that the current regulatory framework – based on a combination of effectively full deposit insurance, minimum capital requirements and prudential...

Transitions to floating exchange rate regimes have led to sharp increases in exchange rate volatilities with no corresponding changes in the distribution of macroeconomic fundamentals. In the spirit of Dornbusch (1976), we assess whether nominal exchange rate overshooting is responsible for this...

One strand of the recent literature on the monetary transmission process has focued upon the weak empirical evidence of a liquidity effect in the U.S. This study uses structural VAR methods to reexamine the liquidity effect.

This paper presents an analytical model of underwriting capacity and insurance market equilibrium under an asymmetric corporate tax schedule. It is shown that reinsurance markets enable risk-neutral insurers to allocate tax shields to those firms that have the greatest capacity for utilizing...